Vehicle passenger doors are typically mounted to swing about a vertical axis. Lift gates are moveable panels that typically close a rear hatch opening in the vehicle. Lift gates are typically mounted to swing about a horizontal axis, and it is known to provide an electromechanical strut that can open and close the lift gate under power or alternatively enable the user to manually open and close the lift gate with no more effort than is typically necessary with conventional manual gas strut systems. It would be desirable to provide a power actuator for vehicle passenger doors that swing about a vertical axis (“swing doors”) in order to provide the same level of functionality.
Lift gates can be quite heavy and typically require some sort of counterbalance mechanism to balance the weight of the door. Swing doors, however, have swing issues where, when the vehicle is on an incline, the swing door either opens too far or swings shut when open due to the unbalanced weight of the door. For this reason, passenger doors typically have some sort of detent or check provided in the door hinge to prevent unfettered swinging of the door. Such door hinges typically have detents in two or three positions which hold the door in one or two mid-travel door positions and a fully-open position. The user effort to enter and exit these detents is a compromise with the holding ability of the door.
Some vehicles, notably luxury vehicles, incorporate infinite door check products in the passenger doors which allow the door to be opened and held in check at any open position. The advantage of these systems is that they can stop the door in any position so that it is held from hitting other vehicles or structures next to the user vehicle. The infinite door check products on the market solve the hold-open issue but do not address the power open-close issues.
There are many vehicles that have a “power assist door close” or “soft-close” feature which draws the door in (cinches) once it gets to an almost-closed position. Typically this feature is combined with an infinite door check feature. In addition, there are commercially available power-sliding doors for minivans or similar vehicles. However, it would be desirable to provide a fully-powered open and close capability for a swing door. It would also be useful to provide a power swing door actuator with an infinite door check function. In addition, it would be useful to provide a power swing door actuator with optional manual capability so as enable the user to manually open and close the swing door with substantially no more effort than is typically necessary with some conventional manual doors.